Contrasted with Lalo’s uncanny fluidity is the masterful performance by Patrick Fabian as Howard Hamlin in full flop-sweat mode. In this episode, thanks to Jimmy and Kim’s machinations, he’s not at home or at ease anywhere. He gets dosed with drugs and starts sweating and itching, eyes dilated, in front of his colleagues and client. His clipped cadence becomes more so when he barks for an assistant to bring him the photographs he believes implicate a mediator in a conspiracy with Jimmy, then gets even angrier when the photos he receives aren’t what he believed them to be. The case collapses, his colleagues turn on him. He has no refuge at home, either; as he tells Kim and Jimmy when he shows up at their apartment to confront him, his marriage has fallen apart, and he sleeps in the guest house. He’s at home nowhere, and he has nowhere to go.
I reviewed last night’s mid-season finale of Better Call Saul for my Patreon.
Tags: better call saul, breaking bad, reviews, TV, TV reviews